


beneath my shirt your hands embraced me

by lostin_space



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Alex Manes Deserves Nice Things, Fluff, M/M, Public Display of Affection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:49:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23867065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostin_space/pseuds/lostin_space
Summary: Alex had never felt so welcome and average in his life, suddenly no longer sticking out, but just blending in by being himself. It felt good.
Relationships: Forrest Long/Alex Manes
Comments: 18
Kudos: 68





	beneath my shirt your hands embraced me

**Author's Note:**

> title: the owl and the tanager by sufjan stevens

If anyone asked, Alex was _not_ staring as Forrest took off his shirt.

He’d very reluctantly agreed to go to a lake house with Forrest and his friends, but now that he was here, he was enjoying himself. Forrest’s friends were all bubbly and some of the most diverse people he’d ever been around, all of them out and proud and not caring who knew it. Apparently, most of them had met in their college’s GSA and had clung together since. Alex had never felt so welcome and _average_ in his life, suddenly no longer sticking out, but just blending in by being _himself._ It felt good.

“Are you gonna come in, love?” Forrest asked him, gesturing towards the short dock that Em, Forrest’s best friend since they were young and who’s parents owned the lake house, had just jumped off of with no hesitation. 

“No, I’m just gonna read, maybe tan,” Alex said, shrugging his shoulders.

“Why not?” Forrest prodded, kneeling down on the porch to place his torso between Alex’s knees. Alex smiled easily and his eyes drifted down to his lips before they went back up to his eyes. “Is it ‘cause of your leg? Because I promise none of them care.”

“No, I just don’t want to,” Alex told him, “Not really in the mood to swim in a lake full of fish and snakes and turtles with sharp beaks.”

“Well, when you say it like _that_ ,” Forrest said dramatically, rolling his eyes with a laugh, “No, but do you want me to stay up here? Or we can go on a walk or something? I don’t wanna leave you by yourself.”

“No, it’s fine, seriously. Have fun, I’m good with a book,” he promised, pecking his lips shortly. He was still working on the whole PDA thing, not being able to initiate anything when other people were around, but he did feel more comfortable here. 

“Okay, well, do you wanna put sunscreen on me?” Forrest asked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

“How could I say no to that?” Alex laughed.

Forrest handed him the bottle of sunscreen and Alex got to work covering him in it as fast as he could so he could go have fun. It was something so simple, but considering Alex had never touched a shirtless guy in front of other people in his life before, it felt like a huge step. It was borderline intimate with how casual it was which made him smile so much his cheeks hurt.

“Okay, all done,” Alex told him after finishing his back, wiping his sunscreen covered hands off on Forrest’s swim trunks. Forrest turned back around, propping his elbows on Alex’s thighs.

“Your turn?”

“Nah, I don’t burn, I just tan,” Alex told him. Forrest raised an eyebrow, moving in a little closer until Alex felt his slick torso against his leg. “Get away from me, you’re all sticky.”

“Well, that should feel familiar.”

“ _Stop,”_ Alex said, but he didn’t even try to hide his laughter. Forrest smiled wide as he stared at him with fond eyes.

“You sure you don’t to come in?” Forrest asked again, lifting his elbows off his thighs and leaning back so he was sitting on his feet instead of his knees.

“I promise, I’m fine.”

“And no sunscreen?”

“Look at my skin and think about that question.”

Forrest got one of those overdramatic thoughtful looks on his face, looking at Alex’s already darkened skin from being in the sun for a day already. The whole thing was clearly to distract him and Alex should’ve known that. However, he looked really cute when he made stupid faces and so he was still shocked when Forrest pushed back onto his knees and slapped him with two handfuls of sunscreen.

Alex stared at him with his jaw dropped while Forrest smiled all proud of himself, slowly rubbing in the globs of sunscreen on his cheeks.

“You did not,” Alex said slowly. Forrest leaned in a little closer.

“Oh, I so did,” he said, nudging his nose against Alex’s before he swiped sunscreen on it with his thumb, “No skin cancer for you.”

“I’m not gonna—”

Alex was silenced as Forrest closed the gap between them, pressing a much more bold kiss on his lips than Alex could ever have done. It filled his stomach with those stupid butterflies and he melted a little bit. He knew his cheeks had to have been getting hot under Forrest’s hands but he didn’t seem to mind, parting Alex’s lips with his tongue like they were alone.

Heart pounding, Alex exhaled softly and kissed him back all the same. Forrest tilted his head, kissing him deeper and pushing himself up to press into Alex more. It felt unreal, the weird mix of sunscreen and the bright sun shining down on them and people on the dock in plain view and _not caring._ Alex’s hands clasped around his forearms, tugging him closer as confidence surged through him. Forrest just laughed and pushed his tongue over Alex’s once more for good measure before pulling away slowly. It left Alex feeling a little breathless, a little shaky, and a little turned on.

“What was that for?” he breathed. Forrest just smiled at him and let go of his cheeks.

“Just makin’ sure you’ve got sunscreen, love,” he said, pushing himself back onto his feet. Alex watched him in awe.

“Forrest!” Em called, jogging over and helping break Alex from his Forrest-induced haze so he could wipe the pile of sunscreen off his face. They were dripping with lake water, smile bright and excited as they looked at Forrest. “Remember when we were like, fuck, thirteen and carved our names beneath the dock with that fishbone? They’re still fucking _there._ ”

“No way,” Forrest said excitedly.

“Yeah, go look,” Em encouraged. Forrest nodded and then looked down to Alex.

“You sure you’re good?” he clarified. Alex rolled his eyes.

“ _Go,”_ Alex insisted, “Have fun.”

That’s all Forrest seemed to need and he started sprinting, his hair whipping in the wind as he ran past a couple of his other friends. He didn’t hesitate to throw himself off the dock and into the lake. Alex bit down on his lip, feeling a little more in love with him than he knew what to do with.

“He really likes you, you know?” Em said. Alex looked up at them, catching that protective glint in their eye.

“Yeah,” Alex agreed, “I really like him too.”

“You’re not gonna hurt him or anything, right? Because if you do, I’m _gonna_ have to hate you and I really don’t want to because you’re cool as shit,” Em told him. Alex laughed a little, nodding in understanding.

“I’m trying my best. He’s, uh, he’s a little too good for me, though,” Alex admitted.

“He doesn’t think so,” Em said. Alex got a bit more serious at that and nodded.

“I won’t hurt him,” Alex promised, “But, if I do on accident, I give you full clearance to kick my ass and I won’t even use any of my training to defend myself.”

Em rolled their eyes but laughed. “I still can’t believe he’s going out with a fucking military guy. If I went back in time and told him that when he was broke into our high school to spray paint a circle-A on our principal’s door, I think he would blow a fucking gasket.” 

“Okay, I need to hear more about that,” Alex laughed, trying to picture what a young, angsty Forrest must’ve been like. They probably would’ve gotten along really well.

“Keep him happy and you will,” Em said. Alex smiled and nodded.

“I will.”

Em gave him a dramatic salute and nod before turning and running in Forrest’s footsteps. Alex watched them cannonball off the edge and he smiled when Forrest yelled in response.

Yeah, fitting in was fucking fantastic.

**Author's Note:**

> also on my tumblr: spaceskam


End file.
